Different kinds of detectors are known from the prior art for detecting, tracking, and/or identifying ionizing radiation and high-energy particles, such as particles produced by nuclear decay, cosmic radiation, or reactions in a particle accelerator. Some examples of ionizing radiation types and particles producing ionizing radiation via collisions with other particles are: Alpha particles (helium nuclei), beta particles (electrons), neutrons, gamma rays (high frequency electromagnetic waves, X-rays, are generally identical to gamma rays except for their place of origin), and charged hadrons, as an example. Neutrons are not themselves ionizing but their collisions with nuclei lead to the ejection of other charged particles that do cause ionization.
There are dedicated detectors for different type of radiation and particles. To detect radiation, the interaction process with matter is utilized where the interacting medium converts the invisible radiation to detectable signals. If the radiation consists of charged particles, such as alphas, electrons or positrons, the electromagnetic interaction create charges which can be collected and detected. It can also initiate further processes, which can give rise to registable signals in the detector medium. The radiation or particle (such as neutrons) has to interact with matter and transfer its energy to charged particles (e.g. electrons). For example the electrically neutral gamma radiation interacts with matter with electromagnetic processes and transfer part or all its energy to charge carriers. For the registration of thermal neutrons, neutron capture is needed that results e.g. in a charged particle (such as an alpha particle).
All detectors use the fact that the radiation interacts with matter, mostly via ionization. The detector converts deposited energy of the ionizing radiation to registered signals, usually electric signals. The interaction with the radiation takes place in an interacting medium and creates charges that are collected and detected. A very typical detector nowadays is a semiconductor detector that uses a semiconductor (usually silicon or germanium) to detect traversing charged particles or the absorption of photons. In the semiconductor detectors radiation is measured by means of the number of charge carriers set free in the detector, which is arranged between two electrodes. The number of the free electrons and the holes (electron-hole pairs) produced by the ionizing radiation is proportional to the energy transmitted by the radiation to the semiconductor. As a result, a number of electrons are transferred from the valence band to the conduction band, and an equal number of holes are created in the valence band. Under the influence of an electric field, the electrons and the holes travel to the electrodes, where they result in a pulse that can be measured in an outer circuit. The holes travel into the opposite direction than the electrons and both can be measured. As the amount of energy required to create an electron-hole pair is known, and is independent of the energy of the incident radiation, measuring the number of electron-hole pairs allows the energy of the incident radiation to be measured.
The semiconductor detectors are based on a wafer, which is a thin slice of semiconducting material, such as a silicon crystal, upon which e.g. microcircuits are constructed by doping (for example, diffusion or ion implantation), chemical etching, and deposition of various materials. Most silicon particle detectors work, in principle, by diode structure on silicon, which are then reverse biased. A diode is a component that restricts the directional flow of charge carriers. Essentially, a diode allows an electric current to flow in one direction, but blocks it in the opposite direction. As charged particles pass through these diode structure on, they cause small ionization currents which can be detected and measured. Arranging thousands of these detectors around a collision point in a particle accelerator can give an accurate picture of what paths particles take.
An example of a silicon detector for detecting high-intensity radiation or particles is illustrated by WO 2009/071587, where the detector comprises a silicon wafer having an entrance opening etched through a low-resistivity volume of silicon, a sensitive volume of high-resistivity silicon for converting the radiation particles into detectable charges, and a passivation layer between the low and high-resistivity silicon layers. The detector further comprises electrodes built in the form of vertical channels for collecting the charges, wherein the channels are etched into the sensitive volume, and read-out electronics for generating signals from the collected charges. The detector is constructed to take in the radiation or particles to be detected directly through the passivation layer and in that the thickness of the sensitive layer having been selected as a function of the mean free path of the particles to be detected.
The detector of WO 2009/071587 is manufactured by using a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) wafer, which comprises two outmost layer of n-type silicon and an intermediate layer of silicon dioxide. The manufacturing method is mainly characterized by the steps of selecting the thickness of one the silicon layer to be the sensitive layer at the front surface as a function of the mean free path of the particles to be detected, growing or depositing an insulation layer on both surfaces of the wafer by leaving open a window, etching holes into the layer to constitute the sensitive layer to reach the silicon oxide layer, doping the holes to create electrodes, depositing and patterning a metal layer at the front surface of the wafer and routing the metal layer to read-out electronic, and forming a window in the back surface of the wafer to reach the silicon oxide layer.
The detector of WO 2009/071587 can be used e.g. for detecting high-intensity radiation particles by having radiation or particles entering through the entrance window into the detector, ionizing the neutral atoms within the sensitive volume of high-resistivity silicon, applying a voltage between electrodes etched into the sensitive volume, and detecting the signals caused as a result of the contact with the electrodes by means of read-out electronics. The detector can also have a polyethylene moderator at the entrance window for detection of neutrons.
Also some other neutron detectors are known from prior art, such as a detector of WO 2007/030156 A2, where semiconductor-based elements as an electrical signal generation media are utilized for the detection of neutrons. Such elements can be synthesized and used in the form of, for example, semiconductor dots, wires or pillars on or in a semiconductor substrate embedded with matrixes of high cross-section neutron converter materials that can emit charged particles as reaction products upon interaction with neutrons. These charged particles in turn can generate electron-hole pairs and thus detectable electrical current and voltage in the semiconductor elements.
Especially WO 2007/030156 A2 discloses an apparatus for detecting neutrons, comprising: a substrate capable of producing electron-hole pairs upon interaction with one or more reaction-produced particles; a plurality of embedded converter materials extending into said substrate from only a single predetermined surface of said substrate, wherein said embedded converter materials are configured to release said reaction-produced particles upon interaction with one or more received neutrons to be detected, and wherein said embedded converter materials are adapted to have at least one dimension that is less than about a mean free path of said one or more reaction-produced particles to efficiently result in creating said electron-hole pairs; and at least one pair of non-embedded electrodes coupled to predetermined surfaces of said substrate, wherein each electrode of said at least one pair of electrodes comprises a substantially linear arrangement, and wherein signals from resulting electron-hole pairs as received from a predetermined said at least one pair of electrodes are indicative of said received neutrons. The pillars are individually coupled to signal collection electronics so as to indicate the direction of said received neutrons.
In addition WO 2004/040332 discloses neutron detector, which utilizes a semiconductor wafer with a matrix of spaced cavities filled with one or more types of neutron reactive material such as 10B or 6LiF for releasing radiation reaction products in relation to the interactions with neutrons. The cavities are etched into both the front and back surfaces of the device such that the cavities from one side surround the cavities from the other side. The cavities may be etched via holes or etched slots or trenches. In another embodiment, the cavities are different-sized and the smaller cavities extend into the wafer from the lower surfaces of the larger cavities. In a third embodiment, multiple layers of different neutron-responsive material are formed on one or more sides of the wafer. The new devices operate at room temperature, are compact, rugged, and reliable in design.
There are however some problems related to the known prior art solutions, namely only minimal portion of the reaction products generated by the interaction between the neutrons and neutron reactive material will cause any interaction with the semiconductor. At least partly this is because the directions of the travelling reaction products are arbitrary.
In addition, since most of the neutron sources or reactions are accompanied by a gamma or X-ray background and because the neutral gamma or X-ray radiation interacts with the semiconductor matter of the detectors, the gamma or X-ray background will disturb the accurate measuring, which is an undesired effect especially in connection with neutron imaging apparatuses.